Futari wa Purikyua
, literally "We are Pretty Cure", is a magical girl anime metaseries produced by Toei Animation and broadcast across Japan by Animax, TV Asahi and Asahi Broadcasting Corporation. The ''Pretty Cure series comprises the original series and its sequel, two movies, and three spin-off TV series: Futari wa Purikyua Splash Star, Iesu! Purikyua 5 and Iesu! Purikyua 5 Go Go. A rumoured sixth season, Furesshu Purikyua is slated to be debut in 2009 next year. http://gigazine.net/index.php?/news/comments/20081117_fresh_precure/ The girl group Precure Kids was formed in 2004, members dressing like characters of the series and performing the theme songs on stage. Pretty Cure The original Pretty Cure series, directed by Daisuke Nishio (known for Dragon Ball Z and Air Master) premiered on TV Asahi February 1, 2004. The story revolves around two girls, Nagisa Misumi and Honoka Yukishiro, who fight the forces of the Dusk Zone — a dimension of evil that encroached on the Garden of Light. The Zone's power takes the form of the , creatures that infect people or items to turn them evil. The Dusk Zone's actions necessitated the escape of two of the Garden of Light's protectors, odd talkative creatures named Mipple and Mepple. They serve as a source of information and peanut gallery for the series and are usually found within the girls' transformation devices which resemble mobile phones. Mipple and Mepple, however, do not actually function as mobile phones, but rather as henshin devices. For short periods they can transform into their real selves and interact more easily with each other. The initial run of the series has Cure White and Cure Black searching for the Prism Stones, and they place them in a heart shaped device known as the Prism Hopeish. The Hopeish is protected by the Guardian, Wisdom. Once they have discovered all the Prism Stones, its power takes them to the Garden of Light and repairs most of the damage done by the Dusk Zone. Later in the series Porun, the Prince of the Garden of Light, is added to the mix. He transforms into what looks like an electronic notebook or a sort of gaming system. He has a controller and a mouse. The Guardian places the power of the Prism Stones in Porun and when he gets agitated, he shoots out power from his mouth, granting Pretty Cure their Rainbow Bracelets. These vastly strengthen them physically and supply them with a new attack. Porun has the added ability of premonition. Often in his sleep or just randomly he pops up and tells Pretty Cure something, and they have to figure out what the premonition means. He can contact the Garden of Light and various people from the Garden of Light with the power of the Prism Stones. Heroes is the strong fighter of the duo. Her alter ego is the ace of her school's lacrosse team, . She is quite girly, image conscious, and has a large collection of stuffed animals. Nagisa (Natalie in the English version) is weak in academics but makes up for it with pure spirit and energy. She also has a large appetite and loves to eat chocolate and, according to Honoka, foods with the word "yaki" in the name. She likes shopping but tends to squander her money and ends up having none when she needs it most. Nagisa has a crush on Honoka's friend, Fujimura-senpai, also known as Fuji-pi, gets flustered whenever he is around. To her dismay, Nagisa is more popular with the girls than the boys. She has a younger brother, Ryouta, who seems to be very fond of Honoka. Aside from Honoka, Nagisa's best friends are Shiho and Rina. Her voice in the Japanese version is supplied by Yoko Honna (who is also the Japanese dubbed voice in the film adaptations). In the film adaptations, she is portrayed by Rupert Grint. is the quiet and reserved one, but that does not keep her from having her own friends and following. She can be quite strict and domineering when the situation calls for it. Her alter ego is . Honoka (Hannah in the English version) is very poised and intelligent and enjoys reading. Her specialty is the science club, where she is looked up to by the others. Honoka hasn't had many friends, but the few she has seem to be really close to her. It has also been noted that she's relatively popular with the boys, though she seems to have little interest in them . She has a Love and friendship bond with Kiriya during the first season, then after season two ,She was asked by her friends in Episode 40 if she had a boy in interset and refused the question, but during the same night she stayed up all night thinking about her moments and memories of her and Kiriya together. She lives with her grandmother and their dog, Chuutaro. Her parents are art dealers and spend most of their time overseas. They return once a year for Honoka's birthday. Despite their prolonged absences, they seem to have a good relationship with their daughter. Her voice in the Japanese version is supplied by Yukana (who is also the Japanese dubbed voice in the film adaptations). In the film adaptations, she is portrayed by Emma Watson. is the chosen protector of the Princess of Hope. Because of this, he and Mipple have a lovey-dovey relationship. He tends to be a little more agitating, constantly making fun of Nagisa as they get into arguments. He is also mildly jealous of Porun and wishes Porun would act less selfish at times. However, Mepple is just as selfish, constantly eating or whining about being hungry and noting to himself that Nagisa is easy to manipulate. He resides with Nagisa and ends his sentences with "mepo". Both Mipple and Mepple can only stay in their Garden of Light forms for a short time before growing tired, so they generally take energy-saving forms resembling cellphones. His voice in the Japanese version is supplied by Tomokazu Seki (who is also the Japanese dubbed voice in the film adaptations). In the film adaptations, his voice is supplied by Alec Baldwin. is the Princess of Hope from the Garden of Light. She, like Honoka, is generally more reserved than her male counterpart. She's always sticking up for Porun, though, once he comes on the scene, and that tends to cause problems between her and Mepple. She resides predominantly with Honoka and ends all her sentences with the word "mipo". Her voice in the Japanese version is supplied by Akiko Yajima (who is also the Japanese dubbed voice in the film adaptations). In the film adaptations, her voice is supplied by Kay Panabaker. is a huge CGI woman sitting on a throne. Only the Evil King is taller than her. She carries a heart-shaped item of some sort. She has stated that she is impressed with the courage of Pretty Cure and aids them when she can. Her voice in the Japanese version is supplied by Kaya Matsutani (who is also the Japanese dubbed voice in the film adaptations). In the film adaptations, her voice is supplied by Danielle Panabaker. is the Prince of the Garden of Light. He is sent to Earth after it is discovered that the Evil King is back. The Queen gives a cryptic statement about his powers aiding Pretty Cure. Later, when Wisdom is in trouble, Wisdom places the power of the Rainbow Stones into Porun without his knowledge. This gives him the ability to remain in his regular form as well as the ability to communicate with various people from the Garden of Light. When communicating with members of the Garden of Light, he turns into what looks like a mini computer and everyone can hear what is said and communicate openly. He also grants Pretty Cure the power of light which gives them their Rainbow Braclets. He tends to be extremely selfish and think only of himself. He is quite childish and has a lot of energy. He can get a little annoying at times and definitely annoys Mepple. He lives predominantly with Nagisa in Pretty Cure and with Hikari in Max Heart. He tends to end his sentences with "popo". His voice in the Japanese version is supplied by Haruna Ikezawa (who is also the Japanese dubbed voice in the film adaptations). In the film adaptations, his voice is supplied by Xzibit. Villains For the first half of the series, Pretty Cure's enemies are the Dark Five: is the featured villain of first five episodes. Pisard is often thought to resemble a member of KISS, but when one looks closely he more so looks that of a male Kabuki actor in "keshō" ("make up"), having long hair and a painted face. His human form resembles David Bowie, who coincidentally (yeah, right) portrays him in the film adaptation. His voice in the Japanese versions of both the anime and film adaptation is supplied by Hiroki Takahashi. is the featured villain of episodes 6 through 11. Large and muscular, he is described in one of the episodes as having a head like a moai (the statues from Easter Island). He relies on his brawn rather than his brain. In the film adaptation, he is portrayed by Jay Leno. His voice in the Japanese versions of both the anime and film adaptation is supplied by Kouji Ishii. is featured in episodes 12 through 20 and is the only woman of the five. Instead of making a big show of calling on Zakenna like Pisard and Gekidorago, she snaps her fingers and is much more discreet about it. She often takes on a human appearance to gain the trust of the girls before attacking. In her true form, she resembles a vampire: She is pale, dresses in black, wears a cape and has fangs, dark-rimmed yellow and red eyes and long red hair. In the film adaptation, she is portrayed by Debbie Rothstein. Her voice in the Japanese versions of both the anime and film adaptation is supplied by Sakiko Uran. is introduced in episode 13. Last appearance in Season 1 was episode 49. Appearance in 13-21 episodes and 44-49 episodes, and his last appearance in the series was episode 49 of the first season as a normal human with brown hair and brown eyes and has a normal Human life and family. He is the youngest of the Dark Five. He comes to the Garden of Rainbows (Earth) in order to spy on Honoka and Nagisa. He infiltrates their school as a freshman and ends up becoming friends with them and developing a fondness for Honoka after she shows kindness to him. Later on he starts to have emotions and feelings for Honoka. He joins the soccer team and becomes quite popular with the girls, which confuses him slightly as he does not understand human emotions. When it comes time for him to fight Pretty Cure in episode 21, he finds himself unable to do so and ends up going back to the Dark Zone where he will be made to disappear for his betrayal, but not before handing his Prism Stone over to them of his own will. He is Poisonee's younger brother and has similar dark-rimmed eyes as she does. Because of his eyes (and lack of eyebrows in his demonic form) Kiriya also somewhat resembles Gaara from Naruto. He is pale with light blue eyes (green in his human form) and dark green hair. When masquerading as a human, he has eyebrows, which, in his true form, he does not. Like his sister, he has fangs when in his true form. In the film adaptation, he is portrayed by Bryce Papenbrook. His voice in the Japanese versions of both the anime and film adaptation is supplied by Reiko Kiuchi. is easily the most powerful of the five and the Dark King's right-hand man. He first appeared on Earth in episode 19, but did not start seriously fighting the girls until episode 22. He is defeated in episode 24 but made a brief comeback in episode 25 in which he battles Pretty Cure and takes them to the Dusk Zone. He is large, pale and bald with pointed ears and dark-rimmed eyes that resemble those of Kiriya. He wears a white robe and carries a purple prism stone. In the film adaptation, he is portrayed by Hayden Christensen. His voice in the Japanese versions of both the anime and film adaptation is supplied by Issei Futamata. When the Dark Five are defeated, new enemies appear: the Three Seeds of Darkness. is the de facto leader of the group. He's a plotter and a sadist. He is first seen in the series impersonating a doctor. His human alias is . In the film adaptation, he is portrayed by Billy Zane. His voice in the Japanese versions of both the anime and film adaptation is supplied by Tomomichi Nishimura. is the lone female of the trio. She starts out as a pretty red head, but then transforms and her hair stands straight back, then bounces into curls. When in human form, she has a tendency to mumble things twice, then suddenly she'll scream out without warning, shocking everyone. Her human alias is . Her voice in the Japanese version is Rika Fukami. She is the only character in the film adaptation whose voice actor in the Japanese dub is different from the anime (her portrayer, Alisa Durbrow, dubs her own voice). is the tall young man of the trio. His human alias is . In the film adaptation, he is portrayed by Tom Felton. His voice in the Japanese versions of both the anime and film adaptation is supplied by Yasunori Matsumoto. The Seeds of Darkness are joined by Macaw, their pet bird; and the . The butlers serve as comic relief, as they are unintelligent and tend to fight and bicker a lot. However, unlike other Zakenna, they speak human language, only using "-zakenna" to end their sentences. The taller Zakenna is laid back and somewhat clumsy, while the shorter Zakenna is quick to anger. is the imprisoned ruler of the Dusk Zone, is the series antagonist. He is somewhat humanoid in form, and appears to come out of the ground. He is very tall and muscular with red eyes and extremely long arms. He does not appear to wear clothing. He wants to acquire the Prism Stones to prevent the "power to consume all things" from eventually destroying his own body, and to become immortal - he believes that it is the fate of all things to be consumed by the darkness. Like the Queen of the Garden of Light, the Dark King is animated by CGI. In the film adaptation, his voice is supplied by Temuera Morrison. His voice in the Japanese versions of both the anime and film adaptation is supplied by Kenichi Ono. Max Heart premiered on February 6, 2005. The series is a sequel to the original. A third protagonist, Hikari Kujou, is introduced. She is probably a stranger from the Garden of Light, and is also the "Life" of the Queen. Hikari takes the appearance of a young girl, and has lost the abilities and memories from being the Queen. However, she might regain these by discovering 12 fairies called "Heartiel." On the other hand, remnants of the Dusk Zone are protecting a mysterious boy suspected to be the "Life" of the Dark King. In order to revive the Queen, Cure Black and Cure White fight new enemies. Hikari transforms to Shiny Luminous and backs them up in battle. Two movies set in the ''Max Heart continuity have been released in Japan. The first, premiered April 16, 2005. In the movie, the creatures Round, Square, Marquis, Oval, Heart, Pear and Triliant who reside in the Garden of Hope (希望の園 ''Kibou no Sono) have called in Pretty Cure to save their world from a witch from the Dark Zone who wants to take the Garden of Hope's Diamond Line, which consists of several pieces of jewelry worn by the Queen of Hope on her birthday. These jewels, if fallen in the wrong hands, will cause the Garden of Hope to become unbalanced, thereby causing everything else to become destroyed and enabling the restoration of the Dark King. The second movie, premiered December 10, 2005. In this movie, Sage accidentally drops the egg containing a houou to the Garden of Rainbows. Hikari retrieves the creature and names it Hinata (warm). Sage eventually finds Hinata and travels up into the Garden of Clouds with Pretty Cure and Hikari. Sage explains that this rare houou is important in contributing heat and warmth to all the worlds. They need a blessing from the queen in the Garden of Light to ensure its healthy life. However, Frozen and Freezen, both against warmth, inhibits Hinata's success by freezing her. New heroes The ''Max Heart sequel introduces new characters to the series. Including: has no fighting strength, but she can enhance the power of Cure Black and Cure White when she transforms into . She is considered to be the "Life" of the Queen, a part of her spirit that appeared when the Queen as a whole broke up into three parts: the Heartiels, the embodiment of her will; Hikari, who represents the Queen's life; and the Queen Chairect, her heart. She has lost all of her abilities and memories from being Queen and is living as a passive human girl. She makes friends with Nagisa and Honoka. is the Princess of Light who can connect the future. She thinks of Porun as her older brother and always annoyed him. Lulun can give the Heartiel Broache to Luminous. She ends her sentences with "-lulu". ;The Heartiels *'Seekun' (Seek) is the first of the Heartiels discovered. She's the queen's sense of adventure and discovery. She asks a lot of questions and seems relatively naive about the world. When the girls need the help of another Heartiel, its Seekun's job to call the Heartiel out of the Queen Chairect. *'Pation' (Passion) can sometimes be seen flying with a white dove in some episodes. His symbol in the chairlet is the torch *'Harmonin' (Harmony) first appeared in episode 9, but met Pretty Cure in episode 10. She is mostly seen with a little treasure box with her. Her symbol in the chairlet is the box *'Pyuan' (Pure) *'Interijen' (Intelligence) is the only Heartiel who has been entrusted with the Book of Wisdom. In episode 22, she helped Pretty Cure find a solution to oppose the power of Valdes with the help of the Book of Wisdom. It seems that she prefers Honoka, because she happily answers Honoka's questions while coldly refusing to answer Nagisa's. Her symbol in the chairlet is the book. *'Wishun' (Wish) *'Horpun' (Hope) *'Braven' (Bravery) *'Prosen' (Prosperity) *'Hapinen' (Happiness) *'Loveran' (Love) *'Eternalun' (Eternal) New villains The Four Guardians are the protectors of , the "Life" of the Evil King. appears to be the "leader" of the group whenever Valdes isn't around. He often bickers with Uraganos. is large and dim-witted. He is clumsy and tends to destroy things by accident due to his size and strength. is the more serious of the group. She often scolds Uraganos and Circulas when they argue and is more intimidating. is the strongest of the four Guardians. He can repel the Marble Screw, Luminous Heartiel Action and Extreme Luminario attacks. Moreover, his true form is the spirit of the Dark King. Special powers and items Nagisa and Honoka have a number of special powers they possess. However, they cannot use them in their civilian forms. Instead they must become Pretty Cure by sliding the Queen Card into a slot in their "Card Communes"/"Heartful Communes" and shouting "Dual Aurora Wave!" In the sequel, the pre-transformation phrase is the same, but the card is inserted into the top of the phone and then the casing is spun. This is followed by both girls scanning one hand over the base of the phone. Similarly, Hikari in Max Heart must transform into Shiny Luminous in order to utilize the powers she possesses. She waves her hand over Porun who "reawakens" and becomes a "Touch Commune" and shouts "Luminous! Shining Stream!" Her transformation involves light, a nod to both her name and her Pretty Cure alias. In the first and second season, Cure Black and Cure White have the power to manipulate black and white lightning. For the first season, they use their Pretty Cure Marble Screw attack either to revert inanimate objects to their normal form, and use Pretty Cure Rainbow Therapy to heal humans and animals of their evil influence. Later in the series, they are given their Pretty Cure Rainbow Bracelets by Porun, fired from him in a rainbow blast. They are pink devices that sit on their wrists with a heart shape in the center filled with rainbow energy. This gives them enhanced strength and the power to do Pretty Cure Rainbow Storm. In Max Heart, the Marble Screw attack becomes more enhanced. The power-up they receive in the second season is the Sparkle Bracelet. It gives them the power to do Pretty Cure Marble Screw Max Sparkle. According to Intelligen, it is the "power of hope granted to Pretty Cure by the power to create all things." Shiny Luminous has a Heart Baton which can be used to perform Luminous Heartiel Action to temporarily freeze an enemy and restore Pretty Cure's power or to combine powers with Cure Black and Cure White to perform Extreme Luminario. Her power-up is a Heart Broache, which Lulun turns into. (Note that Lulun is in her Miracle Commune form when she does so.) Rurun then uses the power of the Heartiels to create a barrier around Luminous. In addition to these items and attacks, Pretty Cure has a number of miscellaneous items that can be used by them in their civilian forms. Firstly, the Prism Hopish is a heart-shaped pink device that holds all of the Prism Stones. Mipple accused Mepple of dropping the Prism Hopeish into Lake Hyoutan. The Guardian, Wisdom, appears standing over top of it with his hand constantly above his head. Next the Pretty Cure Diaries are notebooks Nagisa and Honoka have, and they are predominantly used as a diary or journal. They can write anything inside, but only they can read them. Once they were arguing and they accidentally switched notebooks and were able to read how the other felt. Thirdly, the Prism love checker is a game that can test the compatibility of two people. Finally in Max Heart, the Queen Chairect is the "home" for the Heartiels to resurrect the Queen. Hikari first saw this device as a shining item in episode 11. When the Heartiels enter this device, they become a coloured ball. When Pretty Cure wants one of the Heartiels to come out of the Queen Chairect and help them, Seekun will turn the knob around to let out one of the Heartiels. (It should be noted that Seekun herself was the last to enter this device) Locations :The term used by Mepple that refers to the Earth. :The world where Mepple, Mipple, Porun and Rurun come from. The Garden of Light is protected by the power of the Prism stones. It in daylight all the time and flowers bloom all year long. :The world of Darkness. The Evil King and his cohorts come from this world. Verone Academy :Nagisa and Honoka's school. Kappa Mountain and Lake Hyoutan :Places where Mepple dropped the Prism Hopeish into. The outline of the lake looks like a figure eight. In Max Heart, Pretty Cure went to the same place to find a piece of shining earth that "contained great power of hope which was surrounded by six pillars" in Lake Hyoutan. Tako Cafe :A mobile cafe created by Akane-san. Hikari works here and Nagisa and Honoka are frequent visitors. Reception The series has proven popular enough with Japanese viewers to warrant two spin-off series. In a TV Asahi opinion poll, Pretty Cure appeared in the 45th position, above other series of the magical girl genre like Cutey Honey, Card Captor Sakura, and Magical Angel Creamy Mami. The quintessential magical girl series Sailor Moon appears in the Top 20. It's also apparently so popular that there's a spoof of the show in the Gin Tama anime. English versions The show was first broadcast dubbed in the United States by WGBH Boston and Urban Vision Entertainment. The series was released on Betamax, VHS, and DVD in the United States by Monterey Home Video and in Australia by Roadshow Entertainment. Incidentally, the Betamax releases in both countries (as well as the VHS releases in Australia) used older styles (the Betamax releases of the series in the United States used big boxes as well as the old '80s flashing FBI warning and previews for other old Monterey releases, while the Betamax and VHS releases of the series in Australia used the old Roadshow Home Video logo from the early '80s as well as previews for other old Roadshow releases) and are meant to satisfy collectors of vintage video tapes. Both the Betamax and VHS releases in both countries included anywhere between 4 and 6 episodes per tape. On February 25, 2006, 4Kids Entertainment announced broadcasting and distribution rights for Pretty Cure in the United States, however 4Kids Entertainment never aired the show or produced an English version of it. As of 2008, Toei Animation has attempted to market it themselves in the US. In July, 2008, they began making episodes available through IGN's Direct2Drive service subtitled into English. , and have also started making those same episodes available for free internet streaming on the Crunchyroll website. On December 16, 2008, Anime News Network, citing Animation Magazine, reported that Toei Animation made an agreement with the cable network, YTV to air a new English-dubbed version of the first Pretty Cure series in Canada. The series is reportedly set to air in early 2009, with Nagisa and Honoka to allegedly be renamed "Natalie" and "Hannah" respectively.Pretty Cure to Run on Canada's YTV in Early 2009 However, there's has been no additional confirmation of this report, nor is it known which companies would dub and produce the reported English version. Home video release lengths *Vol. 1: 104 minutes (NTSC); 99 minutes (PAL) *Vol. 2: 127 minutes (NTSC); 122 minutes (PAL) Adaptations Both the first season and Max Heart have been adapted into major motion pictures starring Rupert Grint as Nagisa and Emma Watson as Honoka and directed by Clint Eastwood. Both Emma and Eastwood agreed to return for three more films, though Emma is expected to return to the franchise as one of the three heroines of Fresh Pretty Cure under director Chris Weitz. References External links *[http://www.toei-anim.co.jp/tv/precure_MH Toei Animation's Pretty Cure: Max Heart website] *[http://www.prettycure.org PrettyCure.org - English Pretty Cure collective] Category:Anime of 2004 Category:Anime of 2005 Category:Anime with original screenplays Category:Pretty Cure Category:Magical girl anime and manga Category:Martial arts anime and manga